If you’ve been following ssports for any period of time, we’re willing to bet you’ve run into Counter-Strike before.

As a community, CS esports have never been as big as it is today, and with a whole new year of Majors just around the corner in CS2, you’re gonna want to get involved yourself! Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get involved and how to download CS2 for yourself!

Why Get Into Counter-Strike?

Early Cloud9 CS:GO ft. Shroud. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL

Counter-Strike is, to put it as simply as possible, the granddaddy of all competitive shooters in esports. The tight execution, the importance of team work, the backlog of strategy and plays that you can learn, CS has it all.

From some of the most legendary players in esports history who are still contributing to the overall scene, to storied competitive titles and events going back more than a decade, there’s very few games that even hold a candle to the world of CS2. CS2 is free today on Steam, and there’s never a better time to get into than right now.

How To Download CS2

Download Steam and log in/create your account.
Search for CS2 in the browser of the Store Page, or access the game here.
Add the game to your steam account by clicking the green button below the preview images and trailers.
Start the download from the store page and install the latest version of the game straight from Steam!

Credit: Steam

CS2 System Requirements

Jumping right in, this process won’t take very long. There’s only a few things you’ll need to confirm or set up before you can hop right into the game. For most players, the actual download itself will be the longest part of this guide! First things first, lets confirm that you’ll be able to run the game if you download it! You’ll need a windows PC (not a Mac!) with specs at least as good as the CS2 system requirements:

OS: Windows® 10
Processor: 4 hardware CPU threads – Intel® Core™ i5 750 or higher
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Video card must be 1 GB or more and should be a DirectX 11-compatible with support for Shader Model 5.0
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 85 GB available space

These hardware specs are important if you’re hoping the game will look and run at its best. CS2 is a newer title, and as it’s still getting updates. To be more optimized, you might need to ensure your settings are laid out to help your PC’s performance while playing. If your PC doesn’t meet these minimums, you might have trouble running the game. If latency is a problem, we’d recommend turning on NVIDIA Reflex asap. With that out of the way, here’s our step-by-step guide!

And that’s everything you’ll need to know regarding how to download CS2! Good luck in your first games, and here’s to your start with the greatest esports shooter of all time.